Play Dead
by DramAddict
Summary: Adriena decides to dress like a corpse bride for Halloween. But when she is unexpectedly involved in a horrible plot by a villian thought to be dead.What will she do,especially when she falls unexpectedly for a skelington? Who thinks that she's dead too?
1. Every Girl's Worst Nightmare

**Hope you all like my first Nightmare Before Christmas story! I think its a cute story, like the Corpse Bride but all mixed up. Sorry for all the spelling/grammer mistakes, my spell check decided not to work for me today. :( Don't forget to REVIEW!**

**Disclaimer: I will never own all the wonderful character Tim Burton does. **

**Play Dead**

**CHAPTER 1: Every Girl's Worst Nightmare**

Adriena sighed impatiently as the airbrush's cold air blasted against her leg. She watched in the mirror as her leg was slowly painted with a light blue that also covered her face, arms and all the way to the top of her strapless bikini top.

" Mom, can you hurry? The party is like two hours away." Adriena huffed.

" Sweetie, first we have to finish your legs and let the body paint dry." Her mother answered calmly. " Plus, your the one that insisted you be painted blue."

" Well I have to be if I want to pull of the living dead look, and win the that costume prize." The eighteen year old answered.

" Well you'd better be thankful that your mom's a make up artist." Her mom smirked, finishing her leg as she stood next to her daughter.

" I am mom, thanks." Adriena smiled as she pecked her mom on the cheek.

" Now, how do you think you want to die?" Her mother questioned.

" A stab wound? Bite Marks?" She suggested.

" I was thinking you can do I red line across my neck, and I can carry that fake knife with blood I bought earlier." Adriena explained.

" So you killed yourself?" Her mother asked, with a not so happy look.

" It's my senior year, I think I can decide how to be killed for a party." Adriena answered.

Her mother just raised her eyebrow; bad answer.

" Mom, it doesn't have to be all suicidal, maybe I'm seeking revenge on whoever killed me." Adriena suggested with a hopeful look.

" Well, I think we should just let your little brother use the fake knife this year. So I don't think you should have your neck slit." Her mother decided.

" Alright. I guess I can be every girl's worst nightmare then." Adriena sighed.

" That is..." Mother trailed.

" A corpse bride!" Adriena replied with a giggle.

" How did you die then?" Her mother asked with a laugh.

Adriena thought for a moment, before pulling on a somber face her eyes holding what seemed to be sincere sadness.

" A broken heart." She whispered, her bottom lip trembling.

" Bravo, I think you should get an acadamy award for that." Adriena's mother said with a smile, while Adriena took a bow.

" Now let's get that pale purple lipstick on and we should add a little more black under your eyes."

With that the two went work, soon Adreina was able to get in her outfit on. Soon a pale blue, dead looking Adriena came out in a white dress, dirtied and ripped. With translucent sleeves and the bottom half torn from her knees down. She added a boquet filled with dead flowers, a sheer veil smudged with dirt hanging on her head losely.

" Adriena!" Her mother smiled as she showed her the final product.

" Well?" She asked hopefully.

" You look absolutely-"

" Dead!" Adriena's little brother said coming into the room.

" Thanks, Jacob." Adriena laughed as she bent down to give him a hug.

" Okay, bye guys see you later!" Adriena exclaimed as she rushed out the door.

" Be home before twelve thirty!" Her mother called.

Adriena smiled and waved as she walked down the suberb street, children scampering door to door. She crossed the street as she walked into the forest, cutting her walking time in half to get to the party. Unkowing that six eyes watched her quietly.

" Is she good enough?" A boy with flaming red hair qeustioned, as he removed his devil's mask.

" Oogie Boogie, said it just had to be alive and human." A girl with a green face answered with a roll of her eyes.

" She looks pretty dead to me." A boy with a skeletal face snickered, taking a lick of his lollipop.

" I've never seen her around Halloweentown." The other boy argued, taking his his accomplice's candy and throwing it on the ground.

" Hey!" The other boy yelped as he made to tackel the red hair boy, before being stopped.

" Well there's only one way to find out if she's right for the job." The girl said as she grabbed the bickering boys by their colars.

" Follow me." She hissed, dropping them to the ground. The two boys instantly followed the green girl as a terrible plot was about to be put in action.

Meanwhile, a certain Pumkin King watched numbly as the love of his life shook her head slowly and backed away from him.

" I'm sorry, Jack." Sally whispered. " But I just can't marry you."

**Okay, that was probably the shortest chapter I've every written. But this is my first story for Nightmare Before Christmas and I'm wondering how you all will take to a story where it's not Jack/Sally. Please NO FLAMES, but helpful critism is welcomed. THANKS!**

**Now go hit that pretty purple button.**


	2. Your Dog Can Talk?

**Hey everyone, sorry for the long wait. ((Hits computer)) lol, as you can guess my computer has decided to go on strike for a while and its taking me forever to submit a document. :/ But thanks for all the wonderful reviews I got! I hope you enjoy chapter 2!! Oh yes, sorry for all the spelling/Grammar mistakes.**

**Tootles!**

**Disclaimer: I don't any of Tim Burton's magical characters...that sucks. lol**

**Chapter 2: Your Dog Can Talk!?**

Adriena hummed to herself as she queitly weaved around the trees, thinking about the party and who was going to be there and such. She was about to exit the forest when all of the sudden she heard a loud wail from behind her. Adriena spun around only to see a young girl in a purple witch costume propped against a near tree, her shoulders shaking violently. While a boy with flaming red hair akwardly patted her back, his devil mask in his small hands.

" Are you two okay!?" Adriena called walking towards the children.

" P-Please help u-us M-Miss." The young girl hiccuped, bringing her green face from her hands.

" What happened?" Adriena asked soothingly, talking in a voice she used with her little brother.

" We lost our dog in Halloweentown and we can't get back." The boy whispered hesitantly.

" Where's Halloweentown?" Adriena questioned, looking at the two with confusion.

" That's what we like to call the forest." The girl interrupted suddenly, although not before switfly kicking the boy on his knee.

" Alright, no need to fight. We'll look for your dog don't worry." Adriena reassured the girl. " Can you two tell me your names first?"

" Shock." The girl whispered, her eyes holding an evil glint for a second.

" Okay...Shock." Adriena tested the name, and accepted it when the girl looked up.

" I'm Lock." The other spoke with a smirk, as Adriena slowly nodded.

" What's your dog's name?" She questioned.

" His name is...Barrel." Shock answered slowly.

" Can you tell me witch direction he ran off in?" The teenager asked.

" We can show you." The two answered at the same time; in an eerie voice that Adriena didn't like one bit.

With that the two children evily grinned at one another as Adriena trailed behind them, calling desperatly for their ' lost dog.'

" BARREL! BARREL COME BACK!" She yelled into the cold air.

" S-Sally?" A tall skellington called to a woman, seemingly held together by stitches.

" I'm sorry Jack, but I don't think I can marry you." The ragdoll repeated before sprinting away from the dark cemetery.

The skellington closed his boney fingers around a diamond ring, as he slowly dropped into his pocket. He numbly sat down on the curved hill not caring if his pinstriped suit was dirtied as he hung his head in dispair. His eyeless sockets glared up at the orange moon, as if it was responsible for his sadness. He cursed into the silent night as he felt a wetness streak down his cheekbones.

" Why Sally?" He moaned. " I thought you loved me."

" LOCK!? SHOCK!?" Adriena called out for the two children who had dissapeared from her sight.

" We're over here!" Lock's voice called out.

" I CAN'T SEE YOU!" Adriena yelped as she looked at the sorrounding trees.

" Just follow our voices!" Shock's voice shrieked.

Adriena blindly stumbled along the forest, trippig over roots and such until she came into a particular clearing. She looked at the five trees arranged in a circle, each of the trees having some sort of symbol and knob. The first one she studied was of a turkey, the next a four leafed clover, then a rather large easter egg, a christmas tree and finally, a Jack-O-Latern. She slowly reached her hand for the knob as she her curiosity got the better of her. Right as her hand touched the knob she drew back, remembering why she was in the middle of a forest in the first place.

" KIDS?" She called, hurriedly looking around the grove.

" We're right here." A voice whispered into her ear.

Before she could respond Adriena felt a blindfold wrapped around her, as a rope of some sort wound itself around her legs. She cried out as she stumbled against the tree that she had been looking at moments before, the knob roughly crashing into her back.

" Open the door you idiot!" A girl's voice hissed.

" Shock! Is that you?" Adriena questioned angrily. " This isn't funny! Now untie my right now!"

" We would, but we wouldn't want Oogie Boogie to get mad, now would we?" Lock's voice questioned evilly.

" Who?" Adriena squeaked, feeling someone grab her and stand her up away from the tree.

" Oh just shut her up already." An unfamiliar voice spoke.

" Shut it Barrel!" Shock hissed, taking something from a bag.

" Your dog can talk!?" Adriena questioned as she hobbled unsteadily.

Cruel laughter filled the air as the teenager heard a paper of some sort being peeled off. As she opened her mouth to question about it, she felt a grape flavored sucker being thrust into her mouth. Adrien coughed as she tried to gasp for air. She then heard a creak as if a door had opened and before she knew it, six pair of little hands pushed her stomach as her legs slammed into the tree. In result she fell back, expecting to land on hard wood although soon found herself falling back as if into a dark pit, her legs soon following.

Adriena could only hear the faint sound of high pithed laughter as her body slowly spiraled down. Adriena finally landed with a loud thump, as hurriedly spit out the sucker in order to catch her breath. She groaned tiredly as rolled over on her side, finding her wrists throbbing from the impact her body put when falling on them.

Jack looked up to hear someone else's groan. He slowly got up as he searched the ground although saw no ghost or goblin in sight, for they were all in the mortal world tonight. He searched the open graves and heard the moan again coming from one a few feet away. Jack straightened his bat-bowtie and put on a jack-o-latern girn.

" Must be a new arrival." He mumbeled to himself.

Jack stopped dead in his tracks when he saw three very familiar trick-or-treaters come his way, with a big empty bag. Jack raised his nonexistant eyebrow as he silently stalked towards the unsuspecting children. Who were hurriedly scurrying towards the open graves talking in hushed whispers.

" Grave robbing are we?" Jack hissed from behind them.

" AHH!" The three yelped as they dropped over the big bag and proceeded to trip over it.

" Jack don't do that!" Shock ordered with venom.

" What are you three up too?" The Pumpkin King questioned, ignoring the girl's command.

" We just came to- uh..." Lock trailed off under Jack's scrutinizing glare. " Tell him Barrel."

Jack turned his gaze to the other boy.

" Duh...uh..." Barrel sputtered dumbly.

" Oh for Pumpkin's sake!" Shock interrupted. " We need to get a bigger bag so we could get more candy."

" Yea!" The two boys exclaimed in agreement.

" So you came to the graveyard?" Jack questioned the smirking witch.

" Of course, this is where they keep all the body bags." She replied smoothly.

Jack looked at her for a moment, contemplating weather it was the truth or not. He then looked at the boys vacant grins as they stood behind Shock, suddenly producing an arm full of candy.

" Alright, but you three keep out of trouble." He warned pressing his forefinger to their direction.

" Of course Jack!" Shock replied in a sweetly sick voice, before violently motioning for the boys to follow her.

The three scurried away as the two boys quickly went in a panic.

" What about the girl!?" Lock questioned frantically.

" Oogie's going to kill us." The other wailed miserably.

" SHUT UP!" Shock hissed as she took the two boys masks' and slapped them with it.

" Don't worry about Oogie right now, we need to focuse on the girl and how to get her back." She hissed, throwing their masks back to them.

" How are we going to do that?" Barrel moaned rubbing his sore cheek.

" Boys, to the club house." Shock ordered. " We need a new plan."

Jack watched the three children dissapear in to the dark woods as he was brought out of his revere with another groan. He turned around quickly to see a blue hand grab the outside of the open grave.

" OUCH!" Was heard before the hand dissapeared, followed by another loud thump.

" Do you need any help down there?" Jack asked walking over to the grave.

" That would be nice!" A voice called out.

Jack peered down to see raven hair with blue arms reaching upward for help. Jack's finger bones wrapped around the offered hands as gripped them and in one smooth motion, lifted the figure out of the grave. He then withdrew his hands only to see the figure, female from what he guessed, shakily wobble around.

" Whao there Miss." Jack said wrapping his arms around her waist.

" Sorry, I just took a really bad fall." A shy voice spoke up, as it's owner looked up at Jack.

If Jack had any breath it would've caught in his throat.

In his arms, he peered down at what he thought was one of the prettiest dead girls he's ever seen. She thick raven hair, that framed around a heart shaped blue face. She peered up at him with chocolate eyes as a kind smile graced her purple lips. Although as he observed her figure she saw that she was in a wedding dress, and that made him think of a certain red haired girl. He quietly pulled away, making sure she could stand again.

" Are you alright?" He questioned calmly.

" I'm okay, I just can't believe what those horrid children did!" She huffed, folding her arms, observing what she thought was his costume.

" Children?" Jack questioned.

" Yes, there was two of them, although I can't remember their names." She admitted slowly.

" Sock? Pock? Oh, I have horrible memory." She moaned.

" You mean Shock, Lock and Barrel?" Jack questioned darkly.

" That's the little demons!" The teenager exclaimed.

" They put you down there?" Jack asked his look darkening.

" Well more like trip me, but yes." She answered, backing away from his scary expression.

" On behalf of Halloweentown." Jack said his expression turning somber. " I'm sorry for your misfortune."

" It's alright." Adriena said with another smile, visibly relaxing.

" Do you mind telling me your name?" Jack questioned politely, holding out his hand.

" Adriena, you?" She answered extending her right hand.

" Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King!" He declared takig her hand.

Adriena began to laugh but as soon as he gripped her had a sharp pain shot throughout her body, emminating from her wrist. She cried out as she quickly snapped her hand back and craddled her brusied writst with her other hand.

" I'm so sorry Adriena! Did I hurt you?" Jack questioned frantically.

" No, its not your fault." Adriena answered, offering a pained smile. " I think I sprained it when I fell."

" Well let's get you fixed up then." Jack answered kindly, wrapping his long arm around her shoulders.

" Where are we going?" Adriena questioned, looking back towards the woods.

" To doctor's of course." Jack replied as his other hand took her soft one into his, bringing her closer towards him.

Adriena knew she should pull away and insist to be taken back home, but for a reason she couldn't explain, she didn't.

**Woooo there goes chapta 2! Sorry this one was kind of boring but I just wanted to get the meeting of Jack and Adriena outta the way. Before you jump on me about Jack instantly liking Adriena he's not like IN LOVE with her yet, he thinks she's pretty and Jack is a naturally nice guy. But just to make sure it wasn't those Love at first sight corny things I put in the little bit about he missed Sally so don't go thinking they're together yet. Oh no! There's much more mishaps- I mean fun to be had before that'll ever happen! Hehe Don't forget to R-E-V-I-E-W!**

**That's how you spell REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW! hehe kay, I'm done.**


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